Disposer for waste material



Sept. 8, 1959 R. A. CLAUSEN DISPOSER FOR WASTE MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet -1 Filqd May 10, 1957 6 U M a 2 M 0/ 3 M M 2 O 6 9 a a 4 M 5 6 5 w 7, 2 ab 0 5 BY QM Sept. 8, 1 959 R. A. CLAUSEN DISPOSER FOR WASTE MATERIAL 3' Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 10, 1957 Fig. 3

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9 BY Q4. aod'm w 5% Attorneys Sept. 8, 1959 R. A. CLAUSEN DISPOSER FOR WASTE MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed may 10, 1957 Robert A Clause/7 INVENTOR.

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and at; least one waste feed auger to accept and propel United States Patent 2,903,192 msrosnn FQR WASTE MATERIAL Robert A. Clausen, Ontario, Oreg.

Application May 10, 1957, Serial No. 658,339

14 Claims. Cl. 241-43 This is a continuation-in-part application of my copending application Serial No. 522,208, which was filed onJuly 15, 1955, now abandoned.

' This inyention relates to a machine for sub-dividing waste into very small particleswhich will be passed easily through ordinary waste plumbing lines.

Anr ibject of the invention is to provide a smoothly operating high-capacity machine which will sub-divide vegetable trimmings and other Waste to a very small size be fore permitting'them to pass into the sewer. This materially reduces the possibility of clogging the drain lincs in a plumbing system thereby enabling the flow of waste to lie continuous.

A turther object of the present invention is to provide. a waste disposing machine which grinds the vegetable waste or other grindable matter by a novel: arrangement of blades and feed angers. A typical embodi- .rnent ofv my invention has parallel shafting on which there are a pair of feed augers in side-by-side relationship 1,0 each other which operate. at a slower speed than the interdigitated downstream knives on the same axis of shaft rotation, the knives and auger on onev side of the operating in a direction opposite to the knives and auger. on the other side, of the machine and being, disposed in parallel troughs through which the Wa t mate ial. s ads-Pi be Prop l by: h actisn of the augers and aided by water under pressure and.

' ev en the angle of inclination of the troughs.

Anotherobject of the invention is to, provide a waste disposing machine which has an entrance for thewaste the waste into a eornminutingzone that has two groups p of knives all i splash disks in side-by-side relationship and atleast slightly interdigitated with each other. The waste mat-erial is sub-divided into very small particles, for example material whose average particle size is no mer han an eighth of an inch, The first stage of ham dling the waste is a cutting operation, with knives, of each group deing the initial? severing while the back pressure is applied onto the waste material by the force. of subsequent. material; propelled by the angers, and: by flushing water which is adapted to be introduced into the waste receiving chamber-with thewaste. material,

Then, the waste material passes to a second stage of cutting. which consistsof additional: knives in two groups, these. being spaced from. the first stage knives by splash disks, Additional splash disks on; the downstream side h fiPQBd. tage of; knives hold: the waste material temporarily dammed Whil it; is being acted on by the knives and aften release; of; the material. it: passes into the final cutting stage consisting of a plurality of knives in; adyance of the discharge paddleswhich maintain thedischarge openingor openings free at all times. i One of. the features. of the invention is. the; group of splash disksthatareso constructed that they temporarily hold the advancing waste; to permit, it: to be thoroughly vt b lte a r sr r flte ri aa agea he-a u l fl I ing. flanges that are bolted together.

of material in my machine is in essence a continuous stream with the entrance of waste material being fed and the material being propelled at once into the various stages of the machine. The cutter stages have the knives and the splash disks operating at a comparatively high rate of speed whereby upon observation of the performance of the machine it would seem that the waste material is fed into the entrance and almost immediately discharged down the waste line in the sewer system. This is done very quickly and effectively with the capability of the machine being such as to service commercial uses such as in super markets, hotels, hospitals, military service installations or any other high volume handling of food having a waste byproduct.

One of the important features of this invention is the even flow of finely divided particles of waste thoroughly mixed with water which enters the sewerage system. There is no plugging or clogging of the sewer lines because the waste is not hammered into a bulky pulp but is. cut into small particles. Moreover, the knives of the various cutting stages and the splash disks operate at a high speed with a comparatively constant pressure of waste being impressed thereon which further tends to achieve the feature of constant outlet quantities.

Other objects and features of importance will become apparent in following the description of the illustrated form of the invention.

Figure l is a perspective view of a machine constructed in, accordance. with the invention, this being a trimming e yredisr s Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Figure 1 with the cutter being schematically represented;

Figure 3. is. a longitudinal irregular sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 3 and showing in elevation the discharge paddles, some of the comminuting knives and the. interdigitation of the knives and the paddles at the discharge endof the machine;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view showing one pair of splash disks in the cutter of the machine and taken approximately on the line 55 of Figure 3;-

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 6.6 of Figure 3 and showing the initial group of knives that are fed by the angers;

Figure 7 is a. sectional view taken approximately on the line 7-7 of Figure 3 and showinga part of the gear drive which causes the feed augers to operate at a speed considerably less than the speed: of the. cutters and in a definite phase relationship;

Figure 8; is a fragmentary largely schematic sectional view taken on the line 88 of Figure 7;

Figure 9 is' a largely schematic sectional view taken on the. line. 9-9 of Figure 7 and. further showing the gearing of the machine; and

Figure 10 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view takenon the line-1-0-10 of Figure 1.

In. the accompanying drawings there is a machine 10 for, sub-dividing vegetable or other waste material into small particles prior to discharging the same into the community sewer plumbing system. Machine 10 is construeted: of a housing 12 supported. by legs 14, 16 and 18 that are arranged in tripod formation. The housing has an upper section lit-and a lower section22-with mat- Front end wall Mandrear end wall 26 close the ends of the housing.

The bottomsection ofthe housing is formed to generate two. upwardly opening troughs while the top section complements the same, forming twodownwardly opening troughs; Dimensioning of thelegs 14; 16 and- 18 is suchithatt the troughs and: housiugzformingthetroughs are arranged at an angle to facilitate the flow of waste and water toward the discharge end of the machine. Discharge pipes 28 and 30 which may be branches of a Y, are adapted to connect with the waste line in .the sewerage system of the community or to any other suitable waste disposing conductor. The pipes 28 and 30 are attached to outlets in the form of nipples 32 at the discharge ends of the two troughs 34 and 36 that are formed in the housing 12.

A waste material inlet hopper 38 is attached to the upper section 20 of the housing and registers with the waste material inlet 40 in the top section 20 of housing 12. A flushing water inlet 41 is registered with the entrance 40 and a water conducting pipe line 42 is connected with it by standard pipe fittings. The purpose is to add flushing water with the waste as the waste is introduced into the machine through hopper 38 and entrance 40. The control for the flushing water passing through conductor 42 is preferably automatic in that water is admitted when motor switch 46 is closed. This switch is wired to control the actuation of motor 48 which, through a transmission, actuates the cutters and feed angers of the machine.

Additional water is applied to a pipe line 50 which is connected to a source of water under pressure and connected by pipe fitting 52 to the nipple 54 at the top of the upper section 22 of housing 12. An electrically operated valve 56 is arranged in the pipe line 50 to control the water flow through nipple 54 and into the final stages of cutters in housing 20 and therefore, it is also wired for control by switch 46 or by electrical equipment triggered by the closing of switch 46, as a relay. The electrically operated valve 56 is a standard, commercially available solenoid or other electromagnetic valve.

Motor 48 is suspended from a motor hanger 58 that is pivoted at one side and adjustably mounted, as by adjustment screw 60, so that the entire motor is capable of being adjusted to function as a belt tightener. Adjustment screw 60 is passed through a tapped hole in motor hanger 58 and is carried by bracket 62 Welded or otherwise secured to the leg 14. Other arrangements for adjusting the elevation of the motor 48 may be adopted since the only function is to tighten the belts entrained around the drive pulley or pulleys 64. A single belt or plural belts are used to establish a substantially silent drive connection between the shaft of motor 48 and pulley 64 or plural pulleys that are secured to shaft 68. The belts are preferably encased in a guard 70 which is secured to the gear box 72, the latter being bolted to the end wall 24 of housing 12.

Shaft 68 is mounted for rotation in bearing 74 While a similar shaft 76 is mounted for rotation in bearing 78. The bearings are carried by the outer wall of gear box 72 and are of a high quality type. Hollow shaft 80 is concentrically arranged on shaft 68, and hollow shaft 82 is concentrically arranged on shaft 76. Waste material feed augers 84 and 86 are attached respectively to hollow shafts 80 and 82 and are located in the waste material receiving chamber 88 below entrance 40. Cutters 90 and 92 respectively are attached to shafts 68 and 76 respectively and are propelled by these shafts.

The transmission 94 in gear box 72 is constructed to cause the cutters 90 and 92 together with their shafts 68 and 76 to rotate at a considerably higher speed than the laugers 80 and 86 on auger shafts 80 and 82 respective y.

In achieving this, transmission 92 is preferably a gear transmission and constructed of gear 95 which is keyed I to shaft 68 and driven directly by shaft 68 through the previously discussed belting, coupling shaft 68 to the motor 48. It is understood that a chain drive may be adopted in place of the belting or some other standard transmission may be used in place thereof. Gear 96 is keyed or otherwise secured to shaft 76 and located in gear box 72. Gears and 96 are in mesh with each other and since they are of the same size, having the same number of teeth, shafts 68 and 76 will rotate in opposite directions and at the same speed. Hence, cutters 90 and 92 will be similarly actuated. Assuming a clockwise rotational input to shaft 68, this shaft and its cutter will rotate clockwise while shaft 76 and the cutter 92 which is carried by it, will rotate in a counterclockwise direction.

Hollow shafts 80 and 82 are rotated by power derived from shaft 68. Pinion 98 is keyed, pinned or otherwise secured to shaft 68 and is enmeshed with gear 100 which is mounted on lay shaft 102. All of the gears described previously and to be described subsequently together with their shafts are mounted in the gear box 72, there being appropriate bearings provided for lay shaft 102 in the opposite walls of the gear box. Pinion 104 is attached to gear 100 and enmeshed with gear 106 that is attached to lay shaft 108, as by being keyed (Figure 8). The lay shaft 108 drives pinion 110 which is also keyed to shaft 108 and which is enmeshed with gear 112. Gear 112 is rigidly attached, as by being keyed or otherwise secured to the inner end of hollow shaft 108 which is located in gear box 72. Suitable seals for the oil in the gear box are used where found desirable or necessary. The hollow shaft drive gear 112 is enmeshed with a similar hollow shaft drive gear 114 which is attached to the inner end of shaft 80 within gear box 72. By following through the gear train it will be seen that for a clockwise rotational input of shaft 68, hollow shaft 70 will be similarly rotated in a clockwise direction while the counterclockwise moving shaft 76 will have as-a companion to it the counterclockwise rotating hollow shaft 82.

The outer ends of shafts 68 and 76 are mounted for rotation in bearings and 122 which are carried by end wall 26 of the housing 12. Means for introducing lubricant for these bearings are associated with the bearings and seals of standard form may be used at this end of the machine where found desirable or necessary.

It is of importance in the invention that the cutters 90 and 92 rotate in opposite directions and be interdigitated with each other so that they are self-cleaning and so that effective sub-dividing of the waste material to very fine particles is achieved.

Cutter 90 is attached to shaft 68 and is composed of a plurality of members which are held in spaced relationship to each other by means of spacers 131 on shaft 68. Discharge paddle is at the lower end of cutter 90 and is made of a plurality of spokes 132 emanating from hub 134, the spokes being arranged to scrape over the outlet 32 and keep it clean and open at all times. The opposite end of cutter 90 is composed of three knives 136, 138 and which are held spaced apart by spacers 131 and which are frictionally held onto the shaft 68 or otherwise attached, as by being pinned or keyed. The end spacer 139 is specially constructed with a bearing to accommodate the confronting end of hollow shaft 80. Knives 136, 138 and 140 are interdigitated with corresponding knives 141, 142, and 143 held spaced apart by means of spacers 144 on the end of shaft 76, the last mentioned knives 141, 142 and 143 being part of cutter 92. All of these knives have sharp leading edges and are of approximately rectangular shape (Figure 4) and they are directly fed by augers 84 and 86. Therefore, they form the first cutting stage of the machine, this stage being designated as such arbitrarily in that it receives first the mixture of waste material and water introduced to chamber'88.

The next stage in the cutting operation is done by knives 146 and 148 respectively which are on and driven by shafts 68 and 76 and which respectively constitute parts of cutters 90 and 92. However, separating the stages are deflectors or disks 150 and 152, each being slightly greater than semi-circular and attached to the shafts 68 and 76. They rotate with the shafts of cutters by further assure that there will be complete comminuting of the waste material. The edges of the splash disks are sharpened so'that they, too, are capable of a cutting function. i

The third stage is isolated frornthe second stage by means of splash disks 154 and 156 which are attached to shafts 68 and 16 and are of a structure and function identical. to splash disks 15 and 152. The third stage consists of a group of knives 160, 161, 162 and 163 that are attached to shaft 68 held apart by spacers. This group of knives coacts with a group consisting of knives 167, 168, 169 and 170 respect ively which are attached to shaft 76 and which are interdigitated with knives 160, 161, 162 and 163. Discharge paddle 172 is on shaft 76 and is the same in structure and function as discharge paddle 130. However, it keeps the drain for trough 34 clean and open at all times while discharge paddle 130 functions to do the same job for trough 36.

In operation, waste material is placed in chamber by being spilled into the hopper 38 and passing through entrance 40. The augers 84 and 86 operate at the correct speed in relation to the speed of the cutters for feeding the waste to the cutters at the optimum rate. In models where water is applied with the waste material either at chamber 88 or in advance of chamber 88, this water will be introduced either automatically or manually by either electrically operating a valve or manually operating a valve.

When the start button of the switch 46 is operated, motor 48 is energized and through the belt or other intermediate transmission, transmission 94 is actuated. The transmission is such that the cutters 90- and 92 are operated in opposite directions and at a rate of speed that is higher than the simultaneously operated feed augers 84 and 86. Therefore the waste and water is propelled along troughs 36 and 34 to the first, second and third stages of the cutters that are successively arranged on shafts 68 and 76. Although the actual comminuting of refuse is so fast that it seems to be a continuously flowing operation, the splash disks make certain that the passing of the waste material through the machine is done only after the waste material is finely subdivided and thoroughly mixed with water that enters housing 12 at the third stage of the cutters. Copious quantities of water and finely divided waste are propelled through the outlets of the machine, these outlets being maintained clean and unclogged by the discharge paddles 130 and 172.

It is appreciated that this machine is capable of continuous or intermittent operation with equal success. Moreover, various changes may be made in the machine without depalting from the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A machine for disposing waste through a sewer line, said machine comprising an elongated inclined housing having a pair of parallel troughs which are angularly inclined from an upper waste receiving end to a lower sub-divided waste discharging end, a first pair of aligned shafts in a first of said troughs, a second pair of aligned shafts in the second of said pair of troughs, said pairs of shafts being parallel to each other, means. operatively connecting the shafts of said first pair to rotate said shafts of said first pair in unison and at different speeds, means operatively connected with the shafts of said second pair of shafts for rotating the same in unison and at different speeds, cutters on one shaft of each pair, and means connected to the other shafts of said pairs of shafts for feeding the waste to the cutters.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein said cutters are on the shafts which operate at a speed in excess of the other shafts, and said waste feeding means comprising augers which are attached to said other shafts that are 6 moving at a lower speed than said shafts that have said cutters thereon.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein there are means including a motor for operating said pairs of shafts actuating means.

4. The machine of claim 3 wherein there is a water inlet connected with said housing in the region of said cutters, a valve and pipe to conduct water'to said inlet, and means which are operated in unison with said motor for opening said valve simultaneously with the energization of said motor. 1

5. The machine of claim 4 wherein there are means to introduce water with the waste so that the waste is delivered by said augers to said cutters in a wet state and to facilitate the flushing of the particles that are sub-divided from the waste as the same are propelled longitudinally along said troughs.

6. The machine of claim 5 wherein each cutter consists essentially of a plurality of blades, splash disks separating certain of said blades and thereby constituting cutter stages, and at least some of said blades of one cutter being interdigitated with some of the blades of the other cutter.

7. The machine of claim 6 wherein there is a discharge cleaning paddle at the outer end of each cutter and seoured to the shaft in each pair which rotates at a higher speed.

8. The machine of claim 7 wherein there is an opening at the upper part of said housing which constitutes a waste entrance, a hopper registered with said entrance to direct the waste into said housing, a 'waste receiving chamber in said housing and registered with said open ing, and said augers being located in said waste receiving chamber.

9. The machine of claim 8 wherein said means to rotate said shafts actuate both shafts of one pair in one direction and both shafts of the other pair in an opposite direction.

10. The machine of claim 1 wherein said means for actuating the first pair of shafts actuates said shafts in one direction and said means for actuating said other pair of shafts rotate said other pair of shafts in the opposite direction.

11. A refuse disposing machine comprising the combination of a pair of cutters, a housing in which said cutters are operable, said cutters being disposed in side-by side relationship to each other, means for propelling said cutters in opposite directions, feed means for delivering the waste to the cutters, means for operating said waste feed means in coordination with and at a speed different from the speed of said cutters, said means for actuating said feed means including a pair of shafts, a first and a second shaft on which said cutters are respectively mounted, said means to feed the waste including augers that are attached to said first mentioned pair of shafts and being. aligned with said first and second shafts on which the cutters are mounted.

12. In a machine for sub-dividing particles of waste, the machine including a housing, a pair of shafts disposed in said housing and parallel to each other, cutters on said shafts, the improvement comprising means for operating one of said shafts in one direction and for operating the other of said shafts in the other direction, a waste entrance in said housing, means to deliver the waste which is passed through said entrance to said cutters, said cutters each being composed essentially of a plurality of spaced, parallel blades arranged in stages, and deflectors carried by said pair of shafts to internupt the flow of waste in said housing and separate said blades into said stages.

13. In a machine for sub-dividing particles of waste, the machine including a housing, a pair of shafts disposed in said housing and parallel to each other, cutters on said shafts, the improvement comprising means for op erating one of said shafts in one direction and for op- 7 erating the other of said shafts in the other direction, a waste entrance in said housing, means operating at a speed difierent from the speed of said cutters to deliver the waste which is passed through said entrance to said cutters, said cutters each being composed essentially of Y a plurality of spaced, parallel blades arranged in stages, splash disks carried by said shafts and separating said blades into said stages, and at least some of the blades of each cutter, and said splash disks being interleaved with each other.

14. In a machine for sub-dividing particles of Waste, the machine including a housing, a pair of shafts disposed in said housing and parallel to each other, cutters on said shafts, the improvement comprising means for operating one of said shafts in one direction and for operating the other of said shafts in the other direction, a waste entrance in said housing, and means to deliver the waste which is passed through said entrance to said cutters, said cutters each being composed essentially of a plurality of spaced, parallel blades arranged in stages, said .means for feeding the waste to said cutters comprising conveyors which are actuated at a speed less than the speed of said cutters.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

